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Tuesday, February 21, 2017

When Ben Franklin said,
“Nothing is certain except for death and taxes,” he revealed that he was not a
gardener. Gardeners know that weeds should be added to that list.

Sadly, there is no magic
bullet. There is not a product alive
that does what Roundup promises. Not
even Roundup does what Roundup promises.
So, unless you want to pave your entire yard, you will have to deal with
weeds.

First, Know Thy Enemy: what kind of
weed are you dealing with? This will
dictate how you will control them.

Types of weeds:

vAnnuals ~ Weeds that complete their entire life
cycle in one season. Easiest to get rid of physically, but quickest to reseed. Examples: Cleavers, Chickweed, Henbit, Hedge Parsley
(Torilis), Annual bluegrass,

vBiennials ~ Plants that complete their life cycle in
two years. Easier than perennials to get rid of, but harder than annuals. Examples: Wild
carrot and it's incredibly toxic lookalike Poison Hemlock. (Note: LEARN about poison hemlock, then always use gloves when eradicating it. It really IS as toxic as they say.)

vPerennials ~ Weeds that live for years, going dormant
in winter (usually) and sprouting again to grow in spring/summer/fall. This includes many types including creeping,
rhizomatous, and bulbous. Examples: Bermuda grass, Nut grass (Nutsedge), Sheep Sorrel,
Johnson grass, Dallisgrass, and Crabgrass.

Basic ways to control weeds:

vAnnuals ~ Cut them off at ground level or just below the soil
surface. Don’t let them go to seed.

vBiennials ~ Same as annual control when they’re
young, more like perennial control when they’re older.

vDamp soil is easier to pull weeds from.
Not wet – you never want to work wet soil as it can cause clods that
take forever to “melt”. And not dry –
dry soil can be rock hard, and harder to pull weed roots from.

Ways to control weeds:

About
weed barrier fabric –
I’m not a big fan. It stops natural
cycles (leaves falling on soil and breaking down, and soil moisture level
fluctuations) and many times don’t work anyway, leaving a mess of plastic
threads you have to pull up (which isn’t always easy if Bermuda has clambered
across it and pinned it to the ground). If
you do use it, try to use a thick paper one so it will eventually break down
and not leave you with that mess to clean up.
In extreme circumstances, when sheet mulching hasn’t worked, use heavy
black contractor’s plastic covered with mulch, then pull up in a year or
two.

In the lawn:

vKeep the grass as healthy as you can so it can choke out most weeds (Refer to
our Organic Lawn Care Guide). Also,
increasing soil fertility and organic matter content discourages many weeds while
encouraging turf grass.

vCorn gluten – A pre-emergent weed killer used at
least twice a year just before the two main weed-sprouting times: at the change
of cool weather to warm weather and warm back to cool. (Refer to our Corn
Gluten handout)

vHand digging/hand removal – There are a number of hand tools that
will help you with this. Check into
Cobra tool, hori hori knife, Cape Cod weeder, rockery trowel, radius weeder,
ball weeder, cork screw weeding tool, daisy grubber, Ho-Mi (Korean EZ-Digger).
You can also use a knife or screwdriver for some things, and a regular dinner
fork and/or longer-handled barbecue fork.

vWeed popper for clumping weeds and those with large taproot
systems.

vIn
extreme cases, use a spading fork to
loosen the area in and around the weeds, pull them up roots and all, then
carefully replace the grass. Care will
need to be taken for the grass after this as you’ve effectively just
transplanted it. Seaweed and extra
watering will be needed.

In planted beds:

vMulching – A good, thick layer of mulch will shade
out most weed seeds and make any others easier to pull since they won’t be as
well-rooted.

vHoes – stirrup hoe (aka oscillating hoe) is my favorite.

v20% Vinegar – This extra-strong vinegar can be
sprayed as is, or mixed with orange oil and soap (See the Poison Ivy Killer
recipe on NaturalGardenerAustin.com).

vIn
extreme cases, use a spading fork to
loosen the area in and around the weeds, pull them up roots and all, then
carefully replace the grass. Care will
need to be taken to avoid roots of established plants if possible. If not, seaweed will help them get over it.

In veggie beds:

vIntensive planting – Planting crops so close together that
they act as a living mulch.

vNo-Till, or minimizing soil disturbance – Some
weed seeds can lay dormant for decades and only need the briefest light
exposure to germinate, so tilling actually increases weed seed
germination. It’s best to avoid if you
can.

vIn
extreme cases, use a spading fork to
loosen the area in and around the weeds, pull them up roots and all, then
carefully replace the grass. Care will
need to be taken to avoid roots of established plants if possible. If not, seaweed will help them get over it.

In new areas that will be planted beds or veggie beds or
lawn:

vSheet mulching – Multiple layers of
compost-newspaper-cardboard to shade out and rot weeds below. It must be left in place for at least two
seasons before planting through it, longer for certain hard-to-kill weeds.

vPre-Sprouting – Watering the area to encourage weed
seeds to sprout, then tilling again or using a hoe to kill them while they’re
still small. You can do this for a
month, hoeing once or more a week, and you will presprout and kill 90% of the
weed seeds.

Monday, February 20, 2017

At the double digging class last Saturday, Tom gave a link to the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at the University of California Santa Cruz. I tried it, but it didn't come up for me. I did a search for the center under it's full name and got this link: